A mix of unrelated Australian stories: NSW corruption inquiry involving former Liberal powerbroker Christian Ellis; Queensland court challenge to 'from the river to the sea' speech ban; Atlassian tightens AI monitoring; endangered bat population drops 16%; and Sydney house fire deaths with royal commission testimony.
No BS check run yet — press ⚖ to extract this story's claims and verify them against independent sources.
Christian Ellis, a former registered lobbyist, is named in two Independent Commission Against Corruption allegations Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A key figure at the centre of an anti-corruption inquiry involving the New South Wales Liberal party has moved to the UK and is not expected to give evidence during ei
So-called ‘Reformers’ hosted recruitment functions with speakers including Tony Abbott and Alan Jones Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Senior politicians in the New South Wales Liberal party supported the work of a group of young conservative power brokers who sought to take control of the party and move it towards
Exclusive: Lawsuit filed on behalf of seven protesters alleges ban amounts to ‘a direct, content-based restriction’ on speech, effectively targeting pro-Palestine movement Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A group of pro-Palestine protesters have launched a high court challenge to a Queensland law banning the slogan
The NSW anti-corruption watchdog has begun a public inquiry into allegations of branch stacking, illegal donations, and interference with preselections Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast If you ever thought branch stacking was a harmless game played by young, ambitious political operatives seeking to advance within the party, think again. On Monday, on the first day of th
In his memoir, the former Qantas chief executive denies using the lounge as a tool to influence politicians Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Judges, politicians, newspaper editors and big spenders: Alan Joyce, the former Qantas chief executive, has revealed how the airline admits members to its private chairman’s lo
Prime minister pays tribute to secretary and president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions after surprise announcement. Follow updates live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast In a statement, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese , described Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil as personal friends and “giants of the labour movement”. He said: Working families are in a str
Michael O’Hara also tells corruption watchdog he was wrong to support young Liberals alleged to have solicited illegal donations, saying ‘I made a mistake’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A witness who allegedly made prohibited donations to young New South Wales Liberal powerbrokers who planned to move the party to
If the opposition leader was funding one side of a vicious factional war, it would be hard for many in the party to stomach Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Independent Commission against Corruption inquiries have an uncanny tendency to sprawl in unexpected directions. Just ask former New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, who was caught on tape with her secret bo
Australian government insists legal costs should be paid by former senator as FoI fight escalates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The government will insist Rex Patrick pays up to $150,000 to cover its legal costs if he loses a fight to access documents about the Aukus agreement, escalating a battle in which several crossbench MPs have swung behind the former senator.
Survey also shows Australians rounding on the government over its handling of inflation and the cost of living crisis Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation’s primary vote has plateaued and Angus Taylor’s approval rating has crashed, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. But it is not all smooth sailing for Labor with Australians rubbishing the governmen
Commission promised by new premier would be an ‘important signal’ for voters that the government was acting on alleged corruption Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Victorian voters heading to the polls will probably get a taste of the evidence heard by a royal commission – including how taxpayer funds were used on Big Build projects – but it could actually help Labor’s s
Former PM says ousted Victorian premier was ‘courageous in combating misogyny’ and was a trailblazer for other women. Follow updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Former union boss and former leader of the Labor party Bill Shorten has leant his support behind newly crowned Victorian premier Ben Carroll’s announcement he will call a royal commission into the construct
Exclusive: Of more than 1,000 medicinal cannabis products available, only two have been evaluated by the drug regulator Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Doctors are commonly prescribing high-dose medicinal cannabis containing up to four times the concentration of THC tested in clinical trials, a review has found. Re
Breach exposes Pauline Hanson to possible fines as party given deadline to comply by 18 August Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party faces being struck off in Queensland after failing its legal obligation to lodge audited financial statements with the state’s regulator. The breach expose
Federal-state stoush comes as rating agency warns that electricity bills could skyrocket Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Queensland and the Northern Territory have rejected the federal government’s plans to mandate that AI datacentres use renewable power, rubbishing Anthony Albanese’s proposals to regulate the boom
A feasibility study for the Western Australian project will show the project is uneconomic and requires government subsidies, experts say Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Leading Australian climate policy experts say a new oil re
David Elliott denies having affair after document revealed during Icac hearing into corruption allegations Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A group of young conservative power brokers in the New South Wales Liberal party under investigation by the corruption watchdog created a “shit sheet” on a minister from a rival
Committee apologises for not concealing email addresses when alerting witnesses to final report Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Victorian parliamentary committee investigating the harmful impact of cults accidentally sent the email addresses of anonymous survivors who made submissions to current members of such groups and to journalists. The committee, which had its
Veteran medical adviser likely to face questions over disputed ‘lab leak’ theory in investigation seen by scientists as ‘vilification and harassment’ of 85-year-old Sign up for US Breaking News email Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. Senators are expected to question Anthony Fauci, the former veteran director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid), about
Dirt files are always damaging – not least those originating in the secretive rightwing Reformers sub-faction of the party Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast From time to time, dirt files – crudely known as shit sheets – flutter around the corridors of power in state and federal parliaments. They can be enormously damaging even if never published. While there might be spe
Some companies reportedly using leaderboards for employees who used the most AI in their work Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Software firm Atlassian has sought to tighten tracking of its staff’s AI spending by introducing “wallets” with monthly caps of up $2,000 for each employee, amid an explosion in costs at other tech companies. The move by Atlassian, which recentl
Exclusive: Scientists say about 5,000 fewer southern bent-wing bats have been recorded at a key maternity site for the species Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A sudden decline in critically endangered bats is troubling experts, who recorded about 5,000 fewer southern bent-wing bats than usual at Naracoorte’s “bat cave” this summer. These tiny russet-toned microbats roo
Government’s special envoy returns to the witness box again today; three victims found in burned-out house in Wiley Park. Follow updates live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One of the 19 Closing the Gap targets has officially been reached after early childhood education enrolment for First Nations children hit 95% across the country. Released by the Productivity Commi